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Let’s say you have a product, and need to create a brand or company name… Just think about two world famous brands or companies such as Samsung and Google, and with clever string manipulation come up with your own original brand: Samgle!

Now you need a product name… Find a product from a third brand that’s similar to yours, for example Nokia 3310 3G phone, and you’ve got all your names sorted! Meet Samgle 3G 3310 feature phone with 2G and 3G connectivity.

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Samgle 3G 3310 specifications:

SoC – TBD

System Memory – 64MB RAM

Storage – 128MB flash, micro SD slot up to 32GB (or is it 64GB?)

Display – 2.4″ curved 320×240 display

Camera – 2.0M rear camera

Cellular connectivity

2G GSM – 850/600/1800/1900 MHz

3G WCDMA – 900/2100 MHz

SIM Card Type – SIM + SIM/micro SD card; Dual SIM dual standby

Other Wireless Connectivity – Bluetooth v3.0

USB – 1x micro USB port for charging

Audio – Built-in microphone and speaker, 3.5mm audio jack

Battery – 1,450 mAh Li Ion removable battery

Dimensions – 12.8 x 5.03 x 2.15 cm

Weight – 95 grams

Such device is suitable for people where 2G is not available (or soon won’t be), people who don’t want to get constantly tracked / monitored by companies like Google or Facebook, or people who find smartphones too complicated to use. The phone ships with the battery a power adapter, and a user manual in English.

Samgle 3G 3310 vs Nokia 3310 (2G)

Samgle 3G 3310 is sold on GearBest in four different colors for $56.81 including shipping. You’ll also find Samgle MIX on that GearBest page, that looks quite similar to Xiaomi Mi MIX 2 in appearance only. While I’m writing about copypcats, last month Goophone Phone X (iPhone X clone) is now joined by Meiigoo S8 copying – you’ve guessed it – Samsung Galaxy S8 for just $169.99 shipped.

Apple recently released iPhone X, but at close to $1,000 it’s not for everybody. If you want the “social status” that comes with owning the thing, but have limited budget, and/or find spending $1,000 on a phone is ridiculous, Goophone has prepared Phone X smartphone for you that externally looks like an iPhone X, and only sells for around $105 and up. It just comes with 8 or 16 GB flash, and 2G/3G connectivity, but don’t you worry losing face in front of your friends, as it has a fake 4G LTE mode, and reports 64GB flash storage. Social life saved!

The phone only runs Android 5.0, but the company really made every efforts to prevent any potential embarrassment, and it will show a fake Android 7.0 version instead. The “photo” above is just a render, but they’ll certainly manage to make something that looks to iPhone X close enough, as Goophone has years of experience in doing copycats.

Las month, Olimex discovered a Chinese company called GigaDevice has made an STM32 clone called GD32 and compatible with STM32F103, but with higher core frequency (108MHz). Olimex has now posted an update after receiving a letter from GigaDevice, and trying GD32F103RBT6 MCU on their own STM32F103 boards. The company explained that GD32 was their own implementation, and claimed rights on GD32 trademarks, while Olimex discovered than GD32 was working just fine on their board having passed “all functional tests without any modifications”, and with all the same development tools and software code running fine.

The GD32F103xx device incorporates the ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit processor core operating at 108 MHz frequency with Flash accesses zero wait states to obtain maximum efficiency. It provides up to 3 MB on-chip Flash memory and up to 96 KB SRAM memory. An extensive range of enhanced I/Os and peripherals connected to two APB buses. The devices offer up to three 12-bit ADCs, up to two 12-bit DACs, up to ten general-purpose 16-bit timers, two basic timers plus two PWM advanced-control timer, as well as standard and advanced communication interfaces: up to three SPIs, two I2Cs, three USARTs, two UARTs, two I2Ss, an USB 2.0 FS, a CAN and a SDIO.

The device operates from a 2.6 to 3.6 V power supply and available in –40 to +85 °C temperature range. Several power saving modes provide the flexibility for maximum optimization between wakeup latency and power consumption, an especially important consideration in low power applications.

The tests were done on the GD32F103 board above, which can be purchased for 15 RMB (~$2.3 US) on Taobao. I also looked for GD32 board on Aliexpress, but the MCU does not appear to be very popular outside of China, and I only found one $12.75 GD32 + WiFi board. If you are based in China you have more more choice here and there with evaluation boards with LCD displays selling for 281 RMB (~$44 US) and up. You can also purchase various version of GD32 MCUs directly for $0.70 to $2.80 on Taobao.

Earlier this year I reviewed Xiaomi Mi Box Mini, and so far this year it’s one of my most popular blog posts despite being basically usable for non Chinese speakers, and lacking a USB port. A Chinese company decided it might be a good idea to design an Android mini PC lookalike, but powered by Amlogic S805, while also adding a much needed USB port.

Intel NUC (Next of Computing) are tiny and relatively low cost computers made by Intel. But in case you wondered if there were any clones available to save a few extra dollars, and/or gain a faster processor, a Chinese company is now selling Mr.NUC V3-J1900 barebone system with an Intel Celeron J1900 quad core processor for $169 + shipping, which adds over $40 since the mini PC only ships by courier. If you happen to live in the US, it’s probably not such as good deal, but in other countries maybe…

This mini PC is said to be based on a custom designed motherboard made by Gigabyte (MZBAYAP) for Realan, with the following technical specifications:

The mini PC comes with a power adapter and cord, a VESA mount with screws, an installation manual, and a warranty card.

Shenzhen Realan does not sell complete kits with Wi-Fi , RAM and hard drive, so you’d also have to purchase an Intel NUC compatible wireless module, a 2.5″ hard drive or SSD, as well as a SO-DIMM DDR3L module to have a fully functional computer. You’d also need to install your preferred operating system be it Windows or a Linux distribution by yourself. Some other alternatives like CSQ CSW9, X29-J1900, or even an original Intel NUC might be a better deal depending on where you live.

You can also check out the manufacturer’s page. which also claims support for an extra mSATA SSD just line in an Intel NUC.

The Zebble smartwatch does not look exactly like the Pebble, but it still share lots of the features found in the original watch including a 1.2″ e-paper display with 144×168 resolution, Bluetooth connectivity, similar buttons placements, and sells for nearly half the price of the original Pebble at $79.99 on Chinavasion.

The watch is said to support Android 4.0 and above, without mention of iOS support. It can be used for smartphone sync for texting, or answering a call, for music control, camera control, to get weather information, and it also has fitness functions letting you know your number of steps, the calories you burnt, and distance walked or run. If you lost your phone, you can use your watch to make it ring and find it back.

The device is sold with a USB charging cable and user’s manual. There’s supposed to be an Android app, but it could not find links, and I could not find this Pebble clone on any other website.